Killer Instinct - Smoking, Resetting, Blue Screen, PROBLEMS

the7k

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Killer Instinct - Smoking, Resetting, Blue Screen, PROBLEMS

Just gotta Killer Instinct cabinet. Worked fine while we were playing it at the seller's place, but then it becomes a completely different story when I bring it home.

We start playing, and it's playing without sound. We keep playing anyway, and then we hear a loud POP, and the sound kicks in. The pop is loud enough to freak us all the hell out, so I'm not sure if that was just the speaker.

Then the machine starts resetting. So, I cut it off, open the back up, and then cut it back on. Nothing but rolling blue screens. It's at this point that I do some digging online and figure it must be a hard-drive problem. Frustrated, I decided to save it for another day.

Well, I try to get back into it today. I hope that I can bring up the main menu at least once so that I can go into test mode and maybe find out what is wrong. Well... I power it on, it makes an ungodly sound, and I notice black smoke coming out of the protruding black part of the board that this picture is pretty much centered on: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111013_165500.jpg

Also noticed a little bit of gray smoke coming from this part, which I assume to be the hard-drive: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111010_222628.jpg

Any idea what is going on? Sounds like a lot of problems all at once, not sure where to pinpoint the problem.

I took some more pictures of the back, in case it might help.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111010_222622.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111010_222634.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111010_223259.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/the7k/IMG_20111013_165521.jpg

Thanks for any assistance, guys.
 
Smoke is never good. That thing that you think is the Harddrive is actually the PSU (Power Supply Unit), this board doesn't have a hard-drive anymore, it's been replaced by a CF-memory card. And the black thing on the board is probably the cooling-fin for the amplifier on the board.

It sounds as if you got a short in there somewhere and it has fried the PSU and board (or at least the amp). Good luck with repairing it.
 
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Don't turn it on again. It sounds like something got moved around when you were transporting the cabinet either causing a short in the wiring or perhaps in the power supply itself. The capacitor (black cylinder right behind the heat sink on the KI board) appears to have popped. At the least you will have to replace that cap and hope other components on the board aren't damaged. You also need to check the power supply before doing anything else. Since you thought the power supply was a hard drive I would politely suggest you get someone else to fix your machine.
 
ugh twist cap connectors (big orange things in pic 2) those need to go, also in that shot you can see your remote board dangling that's no good (but wouldn't cause popping/shorting/smoke).

That power supply is probably shot and should be changed out. check for quarters/tokens/coins lodged behind the main board mounted on the side. go over all of the electrical wires and make sure none are frayed/cut/touching another wire.

carefully check for coins around the monitor board (BE VERY CAREFUL AROUND THE MONITOR!!!)

the black thing that was smoking in this picture is the amplifier unit of the board :( and that cap there definitely looks smoked as CMAC said.

the gray thing by the fan in the pic after that was also smoking is the power supply.
 
lesson: always clean your cab out thoroughly when you move it to its final location. heh

I'm OCD, I tear all my new shit apart when I get it.
 
Please don't turn that thing back on before you learn a little more about it or get somebody by there who can check that voltage on that power supply. Something's shorted out on the power supply, or hooked up backwards, or something.

BTW your hard drive is probably fine, if you have a low voltage situation it'll reset like that too.

A Killer Instinct board is very expensive, you're gonig to cost yourself several hundred dollars if you fry something serious on there by playing the game with a shorted out power supply (if you haven't already!).

Good luck.
 
Let me be a ray of sunshine so that you don't abandon this hobby before you get started.

Your problems can be fixed. The power supply probably does need to be replaced. It is the original grey one that midway shipped them with. It is common for them to fail. Look around the bottom of your cab and remove any metallic objects that may have lodged themselves into random places.

The best-case scenario is you just need a new power supply (cheap). The pics are bad but it does seem the capacitor is blown so the pcb will probably need some work (not so cheap).

These machines do require maintenance so it is time to start learning. Search around these forums and ask questions. It will become easier to understand in no time.
 
I would say the sound amp burned up which caused the power supply to smoke. At minimum it will need the amp replaced and the power supply. Its hard to see in the pic but the big filter cap behind the sound amp might be bulging. If the top of the cap is bulged out it needs to be replaced also.
 
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